Jordan Peele is such a gifted filmmaker, it's ridiculous. In this collection, he has gathered pieces of short fiction by some of the most gifted writers of color working today, and the result is an anthology that will satisfy fans of his update to the Twilight Zone. There are definitely hits and (for me) a few misses, but this is definitely one to add to your collection if you are a fan of any of the authors featured.

I’m choosing not to share this review on my public platform, as I believe my experiences as a white woman may have impacted how I perceived this book. While I’m inclined to rate it a 3, I like to take my own biases into account when rating books and thus give this anthology a deserving 4 stars.

As some other reviews noted, some stories isn’t he anthology did not read as “horror” but I believe that is in the eye and experience of the reader. The overall curation was to be expected - some stories I enjoyed more than others. Overall this was an entertaining and insightful journey into “new” black horror. With the cherry on top being Peele’s choice of Origin Story as the final piece.

Now this is the type of book I enjoy. Lots to think about, wildly different stories that all somehow share a running set of themes. Many mind bending and simply odd moments that made me say "HUH?" out loud. Very enjoyable and would recommend to my friends. One or two of the stories didn't stick the landing for me but overall quite insightful and entertaining.

Solid collection of short horror stories, all of which having distinctive voices and varying levels of horror. The majority of these were excellent, my favorites being “The Rider” by Tananarive Due, in which a supernatural entity helps save two sisters from being lynched on their way to Montgomery, where they plan on joining the Freedom Fighters; “The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World” by Nalo Hopkinson, a story about a girl who saves her village from a demon, becoming one herself in the process; and “Flicker” by L.D. Lewis, which takes places in some distant future wherein climate change has made most of the world uninhabitable. These 3 stories really hit the mark in terms of being well-rounded, having originality, and evoking some feeling in me, whether that was dread, discomfort, or flat-out fear. As for some of the other stories, some I felt suffered from being too short, some perhaps needed more editing to improve the flow of the story, and some simply weren’t to my taste. Overall, I had a great time reading this anthology, and am excited to try some of these authors’ longer works!

Although I've enjoyed Jordan Peele's movies- and the occasional fright fest- I couldn't get into any of these stories. They felt a bit like the publisher had sent around a grab bag of social problems that the writers were asked to choose from to use as the basis of their stories. Sure, horror can serve as a vehicle to address societal ills, but I prefer it when the creepy atmosphere and scares are the main objective- and the social commentary requires a bit more effort on the part of the reader to suss out.

But I also don't think I was part of the target audience for this book. Sometimes it's fun to be a voyeur reading a book that wasn't meant for you; other times, you can't really find your way up to the window.

Out There Screaming is a new collection of short stories inspired by a deeply disturbing scene in Jordan Peele’s Get Out: if you were trapped in a place that is haunted by your worst fears, what does that place look like? It looks a little different in every one of the stories in this book, but there is a common thread between them all: the main characters are powerless against larger forces of destruction in their lives.

I don’t usually read a lot of short fiction, because I feel like it goes by too quickly for me to really get invested, but there were some incredible stories in here that definitely proved me wrong. I especially loved “Eye & Tooth” by Rebecca Roanhorse, a story about two sibling monster hunters with special abilities of their own; “Pressure” by Ezra Claytan Daniels, a story about the only mixed-race cousin in a white family who is invited to see a “cure for global warming” that doesn’t go as planned; “Flicker: by LD Lewis, in which a group of friends are trying to understand why the entire world has started experiencing sudden bursts of blackouts; and “Hide & Seek” by PP. Djeli Clark, about a pair of siblings growing up with their addict mother, descended from a line of voodoo practitioners.

Maybe I’m just unaccustomed to short story collections, but I did find the transitions between stories to be a little jarring. I wanted a little more flow, maybe a little overlap between stories or some sort of grouping in genres and categories that made sense to me. It took some time to situate myself in a completely different setting with different characters and drastically different plots. However, about halfway through the book, I learned to take them one story at a time – rather than trying to read several, I would read one story, and then put the collection away for a day or so before picking it back up again. It made for slower reading, but it helped when I set my expectations for one story and one story alone.

In all, I’ll give Out There Screaming an 8 out of 10. Maybe not every story spoke to me directly, but they all were solid pieces of vivid, immersive horror, and I think any reader interested in horror will find something they like.

A great spooky anthology! I enjoyed most of these stories, and it was cool to read some shorter stories from some of my favorite authors.

I got this collection of black-authored horror stories and started reading in September. My arc didn't have the written forward or note from Jordan Peele, but he did edit these stories. I assume the finished product will have something from him and I know with the political situation in the world that fact will influence buyers either in the positive or negative.

I hope you're able to read through the individual authors in the collection. If not, I hope there are voices you can support individually if you are not getting this collection. There was sci fi horror that left me fretting over the well-being of AI and where social media might leech into intimate areas of life. There was real world police violence, and extraterrestrial horror meets loss of reproductive rights. My favorite story that still haunts me is Cadwell Turnbull's Wandering Devil, a classic cross-road, blues player, southern horror ambience I must have more of!

Interesting batch of stories. I enjoyed the book for the most part. I do feel like the book could have more of a jump scare feel. But not sure.

This was so incredible. This was probably the first short story collection that I read and at least enjoyed every story in here. All of the stories were done so well, and there was such a good combination of “this is scary” and “this is real life racism scary” and “this is real life technology scary”. Some of them were just fun but with some light themes or maybe even heavy themes. Like I said, a good combination.

I also really liked the order of these. Reckless Eyeballing seemed like a good story to start off on and Origin Story 100% needed to be the last story in the book.

I also listened to the audiobook and can confirm that is worth a listen. Jordan Peel narrates the forward and there is a full cast for the rest of the stories.

Since so many of the stories were great, I decided to list the ones that I would likely give five stars to if rated individually.

Reckless Eyeballing by N. K. Jemison
Car has eyeballs that are witnessing horrible things
Real world scaries medium, technology influence low

Invasion of the Baby Snatchers by Lesley Nneka
Arimah
Aliens are using humans as baby makers.
Real World Scaries low, technology influence medium

The Other One by Violet Allen
Your ex may not be your ex?
Real world scaries low, technology influence low
Actual scaries and gore level high

The Rider by Tananarive Due
1960s Freedom Riders
Real world scaries high, technology influence low

The Aesthete by Justin C. Key
Spectators watching daily lives of humanoids
Real world scaries low, technology influence high


Dark Home by Nnedi Okorafor
Something came home with a woman after a funeral
Real world scaries medium, technology influence high

Flicker L. D. Lewis
A woman starts seeing a black spot in her vision and then it really escalated.
Real world scaries medium, technology influence medium-high

A Grief of The Dead by Rion Amilcar Scott
Crazy bird things and people who don’t stay dead
Real world scaries high, technology influence medium

A Bird Sings by The Etching Tree by Nicole D. Sconiers
Spanning from 1993 -Present two girls try to cause car accidents
Real world scaries low, but medium to high if you think about some of the dialogue a little longer, technology influence low

Hide and Seek by P. Djeli Clark
Two brothers play hide and seek with their mom
Real world scaries medium-high, technology influence low

Origin Story by Tochi Onyebuchi
Set like a play 4 “White Boys” chat about their roles in the play
Real world scaries medium, technology influence low


Tw: racism, homophobia, themes of colonialism, gore, mentions of suicide, suicide ideation, death of a loved one

Thanks to publisher and NetGalley for e-arc.

This was an amazing collection. I can't say every story was a five star, but more were exceptional than not. Even those that didn't quite work for me still managed to explore real world issues in a unique way within the horror genre. To me, that is horror at its peak.

Absolutely stellar collection of Black voices in horror. Knowing it was curated by Jordan Peele was exciting, he's one of the freshest and most exciting voices in movie and television horror and seeing him turn his eye towards some of my favorite authors while introducing me to new ones, this book is a must-read for anyone who loves horror and wants to see more Black voices in the genre.

I was so excited to read this anthology. As soon as I heard it was Jordan Peele and a bunch of authors I already love, I definitely had high expectations. It started out really strong with N. K. Jemisin's short story, and I also enjoyed a few others throughout, but overall it seemed to lose my interest the farther I got into the book. They were all fine, but the best short stories are definitely put at the front of the collection.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this e-arc. I look forward to reading more.

The “Out There Screaming” anthology is an absolute powerhouse of chilling stories by some incredibly talented black authors. Perfectly crafted with Jordan Peele, who is a household name thanks to his incredible storytelling through his films has brought forth a masterpiece. There is something for everyone in this collection from stories of the supernatural, terrifying monsters, horrific sci fi, and cultural folklore there’s a guarantee that there’s a story for everyone in this collection. Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to reading this collection!

Really great book with amazing characters and a great plot. Was easy to get into and it was very engaging. This is a book that I can see a lot of people of horror enjoying.

Really solid anthology - cohesive but with a lot of variety. Favorites were probably "Dark Home", "the Most Strongest Obeah Woman", and "Origin Story."

Out There Screaming was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023 and one of the most disappointing. While I enjoyed some of the short horror stories, most fell flat. This anthology would have been better off marketed as a speculative fiction collection because that's what it felt more like.

Either way, I've discovered a few new authors in the horror genre (mainly the lesser known authors understood the assignment!) which means this wasn't a total waste!

I started this book in August and finished it now in December. Based off that, it sounds like I didn’t enjoy this and that’s not the case! I’ve just been in a severe book slump (not because of this book though). I enjoyed these stories, some more than others of course as expected.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book!

Actually quite a strong anthology. You always expect some sort of range in the quality of stories of an anthology like this that's pulling together varied authors under a somewhat broad overarching theme, but the range here works, oscillating between weird fiction, traditional horror, and beyond.